Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 132 -

James.

A week had passed since I had first started looking over all of the paperwork that Ronaldo and his father had in regard to the import business. I wasn't exactly sure what they were expecting, but after doing much research and digging into everything, I was able to come up with a plan of action to make sure that they were profiting like they wanted to be.

Every day, though, my brain constantly wandered back to Becca and my daughter wondering if now was the opportunity to let her know that I was still alive. I wanted to get back to her, I wanted to talk to her, and no matter how many times I tried to reach out to Neil, he was unavailable or unwilling to take my call.

I had thought about reaching out to Allegra, but that was asking for problems if I wasn't careful. She already didn't like me or the things that I had done, and even though I didn't want to think that she would stop me from knowing about my daughter and knowing how things were going, I couldn't cross the idea for my mind that she would limit the information.

Something about Neal and Allegra just didn't sit right with me, and even though I had figured some of this stuff out when everything had gone down, there was just something else about the way they acted that didn't seem right. Off and on, I had tried to dig into their information, not wanting anybody to know what I was doing, and yet every time I thought I was getting close, I came up empty-handed.

The only thing that I could possibly do was go to my uncle, and if I did, I could see him wondering why I wanted to know more about those people, regardless if they were the ones Becca was residing with.

My uncle didn't like the Russians. Hell, none of my family did, but at the end of the day, I was going to have to go to them as my last resort effort in order to make sure that I was able to get my family back.

Walking down the hallways of my uncle's home, I scanned the various decor and photos that littered the area. There was a hint of rosemary and jasmine in the air, most likely from the women who were currently in the kitchen cooking. They had been more than accommodating since I had been here, and in fact, my uncle had taken me in like another son, one that he seemed to prefer over his own.

Lifting my hand, I knocked twice on his office door and waited for his booming voice to come from the other side. "Come in, James."

The moment that I opened the door, I was met with a cloud of cigar smoke and my uncle's eyes staring back at me from behind his brown, dark oak desk.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, uncle, but I wanted to see if I could speak with you about something," I said quite professionally, not wanting him to think that I was coming here just for personal reasons.

I did need to speak to him about business-related information and hopefully would be able to get the information I sought out of it as well. "Of course, of course. Come on in and take a seat. close the door behind you."

I didn't hesitate at his offer, and quickly closing the door, I made my way across the room and took a seat in the chair across from his desk. The brown leather seating rested and brushed against my skin as I got comfortable.

"Looking over the paperwork, I honestly think that there are some moves that we could make in order to make more money with the imports we have coming in if we simply charge the ports for the services that we are bringing into their business."

My uncle's laughter caught me by surprise, and with a hint of amusement lingering in his eyes as he stared at me, I wondered if I'd said the wrong thing.

"That isn't typically how it works, from my understanding. The ports charge us, we don't charge the ports." He replied, causing a grin to spread across my face from ear to ear. Under normal circumstances, that was correct.

However, I actually had a solution to that.

"I actually have something that would make that make more sense. See, a couple of the ports we're going into are actually looking to work with these other companies that are along the Mediterranean. They want their imports brought into their particular port. However, those companies don't currently have ships to carry it. Now, if we were to, say, charge those companies to carry that cargo, and therefore, they were also paying those import fees, we could technically turn around and work out a deal with those ports to directly bring those goods in solely to their ports for those companies and in turn, not have to pay the port fees on our items."

My solution was a win-win deal, honestly.

My uncle took a moment, pondering what I had explained. He had a thinly met smile, and with it, he nodded his head, slowly taking everything into consideration. "You know, I think that might actually work."

Nodding my head, I already knew that it would, but I decided to play along with my uncle's comment. "I think you're right. It would work, and in fact, it would end up bringing money into your pocket. And you know these businesses up and down the Mediterranean better than anybody. There's no way that they're going to tell you no."

The smug expression that my uncle wore was the only answer I needed to know that I had won him over on the idea. He was a businessman through and through, and if he found a way that he could make money and do so using our family name to get these people into agreeing along the Mediterranean, then it was all we needed in order to get what we wanted.

"For some reason, I don't think that this was the only information you brought to me today. Is it James?" I froze at his comment, taking a moment to think about what I would say before speaking.

"No, it's not. But why do you say that?" I asked hesitantly, curious to know why he had asked. He was an observant man, but I hadn't given anything away.

"James, I know everything that you do, every move that you make. I do with every person in this house. You've been looking into those people again, the ones that your woman and child are with," re replied with a smug grin.

"Uncle, I'm not going to lie to you. I'm looking into them because there's something about them that I don't quite trust. The little information that I do know makes me wonder if they're hiding something more and not just hiding something, but hiding from someone and using my woman and my child to cover their tracks."

Hearing this, my uncle put down his cigar, leaning forward on his chair as he clasped his hands in front of him. He never made any decisions without first consulting others, but for some reason, he seemed pretty adamant about whatever he was going to say.

"Do this for me. Give me their names, first and last, and anything that you know about them. Get it to me by the end of the day. I'll look and see what I can replace, and if there's something there, perhaps we can replace a way to fix your situation before something happens." My uncle's offer was generous, more generous than I could have expected.

"I appreciate you helping me, Uncle," I replied, eager to accept his help. "I think things will be a lot better when we're able to get Becca and my daughter here. However, I do have a feeling that she is going to resist. She's made a home for herself in New Zealand, and as far as the people that I work with know, she's also invited her father to live there, so moving to Italy may not be something she's exactly willing to do.

I didn't want to force Becca into doing anything, but if my thoughts were correct in regards to Neil and Allegra, it might have be a route that I was going to have to take.

As the meeting between my uncle and I concluded. I quickly left his presence, closed the door behind me, and made my way down the hallway. It was at that time that I turned the corner towards my room, and I saw Ronaldo walking towards

me.

"I was just looking for you. You've been with my father."

"Yeah, I just left his office," I replied quickly with a nod of my head. "I found a solution to the important situation. Your father likes it, and I think he's going to proceed in that direction."

Ronaldo very quietly stood staring at me until his brows furrowed, and he narrowed his gaze. "Why didn't you come to me with the idea first before you went to see my dad? You know that I like to be in those meetings."

I was a little taken aback by the tone of his voice and the anger that seemed to be there. I wasn't sure why it mattered that I had spoken to his father; it wasn't like he was helping to sort all of this shit.

"I didn't realize that I needed to talk to you about everything when you and your father gave me this job. Your dad asked me to do something, and I did it. What's the problem?"

Ronaldo chuckled, replaceing amusement in my question. "The problem is, this company will one day be mine, and I want to make sure that all the decisions being made are going to benefit me when I take over."

It was clear that his only concern was money and how much money he was going to make once his father died. At the moment, he had money, but not as much as he would have liked, and seeing that, his hostility was coming from the fact that he thought he could be losing money or perhaps being swindled out of money that was rightfully his.

With past experience, men in this kind of predicament weren't easy to rationalize with.

"Oh, don't worry, it was nothing new," I lied, trying to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal. "It was about those businesses we talked about last time."

It wasn't entirely true, but Ronaldo didn't need to know that.

"Oh, okay, well, that's fine then. Just in the future, run things by me first, if you will, please. My father is not always there, per se."

He was implying that his father was not in the right mind to run a business, but he and I both knew that it wasn't true. Instead of saying anything, though, I nodded my head with a smile. "No problem, man, but I'm going to get back to it. I've got a few more things that I need to do, and I'm going to try and see if I can't get a hold of Becca."

Ronaldo quickly departed, leaving me alone in the hallway, and as I glanced over my shoulder in the direction to which he had gone, I couldn't help but wonder if there were going to be more issues that would arise than I had initially anticipated.

Ronaldo was showing more colors than I was happy with.